It's very interesting to read your second paragraph and then follow it up by reading about Hungry Academy: http://hungryacademy.com/
Essentially, Living Social has done just this. They decided that the talent pool was thin, and the usual means of finding new hires weren't cutting it, so they mixed a bit of unconventional hiring with a dash of unconventional education and came up with the Hungry Academy. It will be interesting to see if this is a continuing trend, though I can't say I exactly relish the idea of corporate sponsored higher education as the new norm.
Essentially, Living Social has done just this. They decided that the talent pool was thin, and the usual means of finding new hires weren't cutting it, so they mixed a bit of unconventional hiring with a dash of unconventional education and came up with the Hungry Academy. It will be interesting to see if this is a continuing trend, though I can't say I exactly relish the idea of corporate sponsored higher education as the new norm.